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^AUL REVERE'S SIGNAL 



THE TRUE STORY OF THE SIGNAL LANTERNS 
IN CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTON 



BY 



The Rp:v. JOHN LEE WATSON, D.D. 



With Remarics o^UvAirtKu Dr. Watson's Commxinication beforl !m 
MAS8ACHli||wrTSC3^!jSTORicAL SociETv, Nov. f>, 1876 

Bv^Hi^LES DKANK 

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PAUL REVERE'S SIGNAL: 

The True Story op the Signal Lanterns in 
Christ Church, Boston. 



At a stated monthly meeting of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society, in Boston, on the 9th of November, 
1876, Mr. Charles Deane, the Recording Secretary, 
laid before the members the following commmiica- 
tion, — 

Paul Revere's Signal. 

Mr. Deane said that some of the members of the Society 
would remember an interesting communication which ap- 
peared some months ago (July 20) in the " Boston Daily 
Advertiser," entitled " Paul Revere's Signal: The true story 
of the signal lanterns in Christ Church, Boston." It was 
written by the Reverend John Lee Watson, D.D., formerly 
of Trinity Church in this city, and now residing in Orange, 
New Jersey ; and took the ground that the person who 
hung out or displayed the lanterns on Christ Church steeple, 
on the night of the 18th of April, 1775, was not Robert 
Newman, the sexton of the church, but John Pulling, a 
friend of Paul Revere. Dr. Watson's statement seemed to 
be conclusive, and to be fully concurred in by our historical 



164 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

friends. Mr. Deane said that Dr. Watson had sent to him a 
slip from the " Advertiser " containing his article, with some 
corrections and additions ; and he now communicated it to the 
Society, believing that it would find an appropriate place in 
our Proceedings. 

PAUL REVERe'S signal : THE TRUE STORY OF THE " SIGNAL LAN- 
TERNS " IN CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTON. 

To the Editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser : — 

It will be remembered by many persons in Boston, that, last year, 
in the Centennial celebration of the events of the night of April 18, 
1775, it was stated by my friend, the esteemed Rector of Christ Church, 
Boston, that the signal lanterns which directed the movements of Paul 
Revere on that niglit were " hung out on the steeple of the Old North 
Church" by one Robert Newman, who, it was said, was then the sex- 
ton of that church. Knowing that this statement could not be correct, 
and having my attention called to the matter by a kinswoman of mine, 
who furnished me with additional reasons for believing that the honor 
of aiding Paul Revere on that " night much to be remembered " be- 
longed rightfully to a member of our own family, I addressed a letter 
to the reverend Rector, asking for the authority on which he had made 
such a statement. In his very kind reply to my inquiry, he told me 
that he " had received his information from Mr. S. H. Newman, son of 
the sexton, Robert Newman " ; and that his story was supported by 
the remembrances of, 1st, an elderly woman, " Mrs. Sally Chittenden, 
now ninety years of a<re, who is the grand-daughter of John Newman, 
brother of Robert " ; 2d, " of Joshua B. Fovvie, living at Lexington, who 
knew Paul Revere, who often came with the other patriots of his time 
to his father's house. It was the common talk among them that Rob- 
ert Newman put up the lanterns." 3d, " William Green, who lives at 
the North P^nd, is the grandson of Captain Thomas Barnard. His sis- 
ter, eighty-four years old, remembers Robert Newman." " All these 
say it was the universally received opinion that Robert Newman dis- 
played the signal lights." 

This is all, and 1 have no occasion to make any remark upon their 
evidence. 

The reverend Rector also writes that " the sexton was arrested, but 
nothing was proved against him. After giving the signal, he made his 
way out of a back window of the church into his house, and was found 
in bed." And he adds : " Our records — that is, the records of Christ 
Church — fail us in the Revolutionary period, and say nothing about 
the signal lanterns." 

Now, I have a story to tell, which, I think, will give a different 
aspect to this matter ; and I claim " the honor of raising the signal 
lanterns " for Captain John Pulling, of whom I will relate all that may 
be necessary to substantiate his claim. 

John Pulling, Jr., son of John and Martha Pulling, was born in 
Boston, February 18, 1737, and was brought up in Christ Church, where 



1876.] PAUL EEVERE's SIGNAL. 165 

his father was a warden in 1752-53, and a vestryman several years 
subsequently. He received his education in the town schools of that day, 
and before the period of the Revolution was established as a merchant, in 
extensive business. He married, first, Annis Lee, daughter of Colonel 
John Lee of Manchester, Mass., a well-known patriot of that day, 
and by that marriage was connected with Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead, 
" who," says a journal of those times, " was one of the most eminent 
merchants on the Continent ; a member of the Committee of Safety, 
and a resolute asserter and defender of the liberties of his country." 
Mr. Pulling was also the brother-in-law of John Glover, and Joshua 
and Azor Orne of Marblehead, of William Raymond Lee and Marston 
Watson, all officers of the Revolutionary army. I find also in the 
" Records of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and 
Safety," recently published for the first time,* that he and Paul Revere 
are mentioned together as "■ Captain John Pulling and Major Paul 
Revere," and as chosen members of that committee ; and from the 
titles given them it may of course be inferred that they both held com- 
missions in the Continental service. It is also recorded, that " at a meet- 
ing of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston, in 
public town meeting assembled, at the Old Brick INIeeting-house," «&c., it 
was " voted that Captain John Pulling, Major Paul Revere," and others, 
" be appointed a sub-committee to collect the names of all persons who 
have in any way acted against or opposed the rights and liberties of 
this country," &c. They were both also the associates of Hancock, 
Warren, Adams, and other leading patriots ; and most noteworthy is it 
that Paul Revere and John Pnlling, intimate friends fiom boyhood, 
always acted together. These particulars are sufficient indications of 
the character and standing of John Pulling, and the estimation in which 
he was held by the " men of the Revolution." 

His first wife, Annis Lee, died August 11. 1771, leaving a son and 
a daughter; and in January, 1773, he married Mrs. Sarah (Thaxter) 
McBean, the widow of Major Duncan McBean, by which maiTiage he 
acquired a large property in the West Indies, 

The following is Paul Revere's narrative of the events of the night 
of the 18th of April, 1775 : " On Tuesday evening, it was observed 
that a number of soldiers were marching toward Boston Common. 
About ten o'clock, Dr. Warren sent, in great haste, for me, and begged 
that I would immediately set off for Lexington, whei-e were Hancock 
and Adams, and acquaint them of the movements, and that it was 
thought they were the objects. On the Sunday before, I agreed with 
a Colonel Conant, and some other gentlemen," — in Charlestown, — 
" that, if the British went out by water, we should show two lanterns in 
the North Church steeple, and if by land, one, as a signal ; for we 
were apprehensive it would be difficult to cross over Charles River. 
I left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend and desired him to make the 
signal. I then went home,! took my boots and surtout, went to the 

* New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. xxx. p. 382. 
t He lived at tliat time in " North Square." 



166 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

north part of the town, where I harl kept a boat. Two friends rowed 
me across Charles River, a little to the eastward where the ' Somerset ' 
lay. It was then yoiuig flood ; the ship was winding, and the moon 
was rising. They landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got 
into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others. They said they 
had seen our signals."* 

Plere, then, we trace the course of the movements on that eventful 
night. At ten o'clock, Paul Revere was sent for by Dr. Warren, who 
informed him of the intended march of the British to Lexington and 
Concord, and begged him to proceed immediately to Lexinojton and 
acquamt Hancock and Adams of the movement. He left Dr. War- 
ren's residence in Hanover Street, f and then called upon a friend, — his 
most intimate friend, John Pulling, — and desired him to make the sig- 
nals. This, of course, was the most critical and hazardous part of the 
whole enterprise. It was full of difficulty and danger, and required of 
any one who should undertake it the union of discretion and judgment, 
with a degree of courage and firmness which could contemplate cer- 
tain death as the only alternative of success. The soldiers were in 
the streets, at no great distance from the church ; and not only was 
there the risk of the light being observed in that quarter, but also, as 
Pulliug said, " he was afraid that some old woman would see the light 
and scream fire." 

No one who knows any thing of Paul Revere will for a moment sup- 
pose, that, having been intrusted with an important duty, he would 
have committed this most perilous part of it to any one but a friend in 
whose prudence or courage he could confide for life or death. Such a 
man was John Pulling: he had been, from boyhood, his most intimate 
friend : he had shared with him in the hopes and fears and deep anxie- 
ties of Warren and Hancock and Adams, and been acquainted with their 
most secret plans for alarming the people about the intentions of Gen- 
eral Gage. He, then, it was who was " called upon " by his friend 
Paul Revere, and " desired to make the signals " which had been agreed 
upon between them. 

As soon as he received his notice, he left his house,? and, watching 
his time, went over to the sexton's in the same street, and asked for the 
keys of the church, which, as he was a vestryman, the sexton could not 
refuse to give him. He then went into the church, locking himself 
in ; and, climbing to the upper window of the steeple, he there waited 
for a favorable moment, and then hung out the signal of two lan- 
terns, as had been agreed upon, by wliich those on the other side 
would " know that the British were going by water." In the mean 
time, Paul Revere had been " rowed by his friends a little to the east- 
wai'd of where the ' Somerset ' lay," to avoid detection by those on 
board ; and, landing on the opposite shore, " had joined Colonel Conant 



* Paul Kevere's Narrative, Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. v., 1st 
Series. 

t On the site of the present American House. 
} In Salem Street. 



1876.] PAUL REVERE's SIGNAL. 167 

and others " in Charlestowu, who told him " they had seen the signals." 
Finding, also, that they had provided him witJi a horse, " he sprui"-s to 
the saddle," and starts at once on that " midnight ride " which the 
words of the poet have made famous. 

..." And throuorh the gloom and the light, 
The fate of a nation was riding that night." 

When it was discovered by the British authorities that the signals 
had been made from Christ Church, " a search was immediately set 
afoot for the rebel who made them." The sexton of the church was 
suspected and arrested. He protested his innocence ; and, when ques- 
tioned, declared that " the keys of the church were demanded of him 
at a late hour of the night by Mr. Pulling, who, being a vestryman, he 
thouglit liad a right to them ; and, after he had given them up, he had 
gone to bed again, and that was all he knew about it." This answer 
was sufficient to procure his release, and turn the search towards Mr. 
Pulling. 

In the mean time, a Mrs. Malcolm, a Scotch woman, and wife of 
a near neighbor of Mr. Pulling, — who was under obligations to him 
for some service he had rendered him, — came to him with a mes- 
sage from her husband, " that he had better leave the town as soon as 
possible, with his family." And this he did, disguised as a laborer, on 
board of a small craft loaded with beer for the man-of-war lying in 
the harbor. In some way, one of the sailors belonging to the craft 
liad known Mr. Pulling, and to him he confided his wish to escape 
from Boston with his family. The sailor said, " if the skipper of the 
craft should be on board, he would not allow of any delay ; but if the 
mate, who was a good-natured fellow, should have the command, he 
would be willing to put him ashore on his return." This proved to be 
the case, and Mr. Pulling and liis fixmily were landed at Nantasket. 
How long he remained there is not known, — probably not long ; but 
his wife and family continued to live there for some time, sulFering 
from want of all the necessaries of life ; for they had carried nothing 
^yith them, — every thing had been left behind. And when Mr. Puf 
ling returned to Boston, — after the siege was raised, — he found his 
dwelling-house and stores and abundant means all so injured or de- 
stroyed, that at the end of the war all his property was gone. He 
died soon after, and the family at once removed to Hingham, Massa- 
chusetts. 

Such is the true story of the " signal-lanterns," derived principally 
from the letters of my kinswoman, the grand-daughter of John Pulling, 
whose very clear and accurate accounts of the matter form the mam 
source of the foregoing narrative. She also writes : " The story of the 
lanterns I heard from ray earliest childhood from my mother and from 
my step-grandmother, and I never supposed there could be a doubt of 
its truth. I know that he held the lanterns on that night, but how can 
I prove it after all these years ? If this sexton, Newman, — I never 
heard his name before, — was the person, and was arrested, as the Rector 
of the church says he was, is it very likely he could escape, and remain 



168 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

in Boston ? And are sextons, as a class, so intelligent and so reliable 
as to have been chosen for and intrusted with such an important affair ? 
My grandfather was the intimate friend of Paul Revere; and because 
I knew this I inquired of Mr. Longfellow, a few years since, if he could 
tell the name of " the friend " in the poem. The answer he gave the 
person who made the inquiry for me was, ' that he found the incident 
mentioned in a magazine, and that it gave him the idea of the poem.' 
Is it probable that t\\\s friend was the sexton ? " 

I can add my own testimony to my kinswoman's statement, that 
I distinctly remember hearing my mother and my aunt, both of 
them sisters of Mrs. Annis Pulling, relating the same story in our 
family, and saying that they considered his " showing the signals on 
that night, at the peril of his life, as one of the most daring deeds of 
the Revolution ;" and they were accustomed to speak of it, with justi- 
fiable pride, as characteristic of their brother-in-law, John Pulling. 

Thus, then, we liave the evidence of family tradition that John Pul' 
ling was the friend whom Paul Revere " called upon and desired to 
make the signals." And, if the probabilities in the case are considered, 
I think they will fully sustain the fiimily traditions. To bring them 
all forward would be only to repeat the questions which have been so 
well put by my kinswoman, in the extracts which I have given from 
her letters. But, as I wish to submit the case to the impartial judg- 
ment of any one who can discriminate between truth and error, I ask 
again, Is it probable that Paul Revere would be likely to commit that 
part of his enterprise, on which every thing else depended, to any one 
but a tried and trusty friend, on whose prudence and vigilance, as well 
as fidelity and courage, he knew he could rely ? And is it within the 
bounds of probability that the sexton of the church — perhaps no bet- 
ter and no worse than sextons usually were at that time — could have 
been such a friend of Paul Revere, and also an associate of Warren, 
Hancock, and Adams, acquainted with all their secrets and sharing in 
all their counsels ? 

And this brings me to another point, which appears to me to be 
conclusive on the subject. In Paul Revere's Narrative,* he gives an 
account of about thirty persons, mechanics and others, " who had 
agreed to watch the movements of British soldiers and tories." These 
patriots met at the Green Dragon tavern in Union Street. " We were 
so careful," he says, " that our meetings should be kept secret, tliat 
every time we met every person sivore upon the Bible that they would 
not discover any of our transactions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, 
Drs. Warren, Church, and one or two more " ; that is, to the commit- 
tees chosen by themselves, to which both Paul Revere and John 
Pulling belonged. 

And I ask. Is there a man living in Boston, who, with all the knowl- 
edge we have of the truly noble character of Paul Revere, can believe 
that he violated his solemn oath to Almighty God by intrusting to 
the sexton of the church that secret, which he had " sworn upon the 

* As quoted in Frothingham's Life of Warren, p. 441. 



1876.] PAUL EEVERE'S SIGNAL. 1(59 

Bible " he would discover to no one except to the committees, " War- 
ren, Hancock, Adams, and one or two more " ? I think not ; and I 
maintain that this point alone, if duly considered, will be sufficient to 
set at rest the question about the " signal lanterns," and that tardy 
justice, delayed for a hundred years, shall at length be rendered to the 
name and services of a man every way worthy to stand on the page 
of our early history, as he had stood through life, side by side with his 
friend Paul Revere. 

In the statements which have now been made, I trust that the Rector 
of Chi'ist Church will recognize no want of that respect and regard 
which, he must know, I have always entertained for him ; for, although 
it was only by the sanction of his name and position that the sexton 
story could obtain any notoriety, yet I am sensible that no fault can 
be imputed to him on this account, as it was not possible for him to 
be acquainted with the facts which have now for the first time been 
made public. And I indulge the hope that, when he has read this 
communication, he will be ready to acknowledge that the honor of 
" hanging out the signals in Christ Church," for the guidance of 
" Major Paul Revere," on the night of the 18th of April, a.d. 1775, 
belongs rightfully and exclusively to his friend " Captain John Pul- 
ling," merchant of Boston. 

John Lee Watson. 
Orange, New Jersey, July, a.d. 1876. 

Mr. Deane continued : Since the publication of that arti- 
cle, Dr. Watson had heard that some gentlemen here, who 
fully concurred in his opinion as to the agency of Robert 
Newman in displaying the lanterns, had some doubts as to 
the church itself from which the lights were shown ; that, is 
to say, whether the}' were shown from the steeple of Christ 
Church, or from that of the Old North Meeting-house, inas- 
much as Paul Revere, writing in 1798, and Richard Devens, 
writing without date, but evidently some years after the oc- 
currence of these events, both say " North Church." Feel- 
ing confident that Christ Church was the place at which the 
signals were made, and being desirous that those having any 
doubts respecting it should see the grounds of his opinion, 
Dr. Watson has written me a letter on the subject, which I 
now lay before the Society. (See page 173.) 

Dr. Watson seems to me to be equally happy in establish- 
ing his last proposition ; and in confirmation of his position that 
Christ Church was known at that period and called " the North 
Church," certainly some time before Paul Revere wrote his 
interesting account of the incident, I will read some ex- 
tracts from an unpublished correspondence between a warden 
of Christ Church in Cambridge and Dr. Walter, Rector in 
1792 of Christ Church in Boston ; also one from the wardens 

22 



170 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

of Christ Church in Boston to a warden of Christ Church in 
Cambridge : — 

I. Jonathan Simpson to Rev. Dr. Walter, 26 October, 1790: "Dr. 
Winship and the two Wardens of the North Church in Boston have 
just left me." 

II. Rev. Dr. Walter to Jonathan Simpson. Shelburne, N.S., 5 No- 
vember, 1790 : " At the same time the Proprietors of the North Church 
were in a strange dilemma." 

III. Jonathan Simpson to Dr. Walter, 2 March, 1791 : " I am ex- 
cessively mortified to hear that you have desir'd the Wardens of the 
North Church to procure you a house in their neighbourhood." " Nor 
had I any idea when I partially consented to an union with the North 
Church." " All the world (except the North Church people) consider 
you as engaged to us, nor must you blame us if we cannot consent to your 
residing with the North peojile." " I am sorry that the North Church 
take an undue advantage of our generosity in admitting them to an 
imion with us. If you give up your residence among us, it is my 
opinion that our Church will not be connected with the North Church." 
"■ I see now I went too far in saying that we were willing to be con- 
nected with the North Church at all." 

IV. James Sherman and Charles Williams^ Church Wardens. Bos- 
ton, 21 March, 1791 : " We this day received yours of 5 March instant, 
directed to the Wardens of the North Church, Boston." 

V. Dr. Walter to Jonathan Simpson. Shelburne, N.S., 5 April, 1791 : 
" The two Churches of Cambridge and Boston North being united 
under me with an assistant." " I have only some feai'S in my own 
mind respecting the gentlemen of the North." 

But it has been said that, although Christ Church may have 
been popuh\rly called " the North Church " after the old 
North Meeting-house was taken down, yet it was never so 
called while the latter Avas standing. 

This is a mistake, as I will now proceed to show. 

The Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., while pastor of the First Church 
in New London, became an Episcopalian, and received in 
1768 a call to Christ Church, in Boston, whose rector. Dr. 
Cutler, had died three years before. His acceptance created 
considerable dissatisfaction in the New London parish, and 
resulted in a conference between the pastor and j^eople, an 
account of which was published that year, in a pamphlet of 
considerable interest.* 

* A Debate between tlie Rev'cl Mr. B3'les, tbe Pastor of the First Church, in 
New London, and tlie brethren of tliat Churcli, held at the nieeting-liouse, pre- 
vious to his leaving said Society, containing the substance or heads of the l)is- 
course which then passed. As also a specimen of one of the many volumes 
which Mr. Bijles is supposed to have been convinced by, &c. By A. Z.,Esq. 
See 34th chap, of Ezekiel. To whicii are added some remarks. New London : 
Printed in the year 1768. Sold at Draper's printing-office, Boston. 



1876.] REMARKS BY MR. DEANE. 171 

On the reverse of its title-page, the writer says, " As the 
Public are so very desirous of knowing the Reasons of Mr. 
Byles's leaving the Church of Christ, in New London, where 
he was so happily settled to all Appearance, in so unexpected 
a departure for Boston, without Time or Inclination of seeing 
or bidding any of his best Friends farewell ; will let them 
know it is in Consequence of an Invitation of the Wardens, 
Vestry, &c., of the Episcopal North Clmrch, Boston : Avhich 
he has thought fit to accept," &c. Then follows the account 
of the Conference, near the beginning of which the minister 
says, " I will now communicate to you a letter I received 
from the wardens and vestry of the north churchy in Boston, 
dated 8th of March," &c. (p. 3). " And since that have re- 
ceived a line from brother Walter, wherein he advises me : 
' This day, at a meeting of the wardens and vestry of the 
north churchy in Boston, they have come to the determina- 
tion of sending for you to Boston,' " &c. (p. 4). 

Mr. Byles's acceptance of the call to Christ Church made 
it necessary that he should go to England, to i-eceive ordi- 
nation ; and he accordingly went, bearing a letter to the 
Secretary of the Society for Propagation of the Gospel, &c., 
dated " Providence, 5th May, 1768," of which the following 
is an extract : " Rev. Sir, — The bearer hereof is Mr. Byles, 
a New England gentleman, was bred a Dissenter ; his Father 
the Doctor still a Pastor in Boston. . . He is now going to 
England for Episcopal Ordination, under I doubt not a full 
and clear Conviction of its superiority. He has accepted an 
Invitation from the North Church in Boston where the late 
Dr. Cutler was their long and faithful Pastor." ... * 

J. Graves. 

Mr. Byles continued to be the Rector of this church till 
1775, when the troubles of the Revolutionary war intervening, 
and his parishioners being divided in political sentiment, the 
church was closed. (Dr. Burroughs's Hist. Address, p. 24.) 

Paul Revere, writing to Dr. Belknap, on the Lexington and 
Concord affair, in 1798, says that he had agreed with Colonel 
Conant and some others of Charlestown, the Sunday evening 
before (*.e., two days before the 18th of April), "that if the 
British went out by water we would show two lanterns in the 
North Church steeple, and if by land one, as a signal, for we 
were apprehensive it would be difficult to cross the Charles 
River or get over Boston Neck." In saying "• North Cliurch," 
Revere would be likely to use a name which his readers, at 

* Perry's Hist. Coll. relating to the Am. Col. Church, III. 336. 



172 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

the time he wrote, understood; and we have just seen, in the 
correspondence above cited, in 1790 and 1791, that by " the 
North Church " Christ Church was intended. We have also 
seen that by that name Christ Church was known just pre- 
vious to the time the affair of the lanterns took place. If 
Revere had meant to describe or refer to the " Old North 
Meeting-house," which had stood in North Square, and had 
been destroyed by the British during the siege, whatever 
name that old structure once bore, would he not have said so ? 

I now Avish to call attention of members to Price's large 
map of Boston, dated 1743, on which all the churches of 
Boston are delineated. "Christ Church" is shown to have 
a very tall steeple, rising from a high tower ; while the " Old 
North Meeting," as the inscription reads at the bottom 
of the map, has only a low tower or belfry, terminating ab- 
ruptly in a point. Devens says the signal " was a lanthorn 
hung out in the upper window of the tower of N. Ch. 
towards Charlestown." Now the Old North Meeting-house 
had no " upper window " answering to this description. It 
had simply one window (if it may be so called), — an opening 
at the place where a bell may have hung. Christ Church, 
on the contrary, had both an upper and a lower window in its 
tower, above which its spire rose. The language of Devens, 
and also of Revere, — the only authorities hitherto relied 
on, — if carefully considered, clearly sustain the view advo- 
cated by Dr. Watson. Moreover, the position of Christ 
Church, elevated, just opposite Charlestown, was a fit place 
from which such signals could be seen. Not so, it is believed, 
with the Old North Meeting-house, as well from its location, 
surrounded by buildings, as from its having no tower or 
steeple or spire, properly so called. 

A writer of bad verses (happily unpublished), residing in 
the vicinity of Boston, under date of " March 15, 1795," 
three years before Paul Revere wrote his letter to Dr. Bel- 
knap, and fifty-four years before Richard Devens's memo- 
randum was published by Mr. Frothingham, thus commences 
his poem, entitled " Story of the Battle of Concord and 
Lexington, and Revere's Ride, twent}^ years ago " : — * 

" He spared neither horse, nor whip, nor spur. 
As he galloped througjh mud and mire ; 
He thought of naught but liberty, 
And the lanterns that hung from the spire." 

* These verses were written on some half-dozen leaves of an old folio ac- 
count-book, dated as above, and signed " Eb. Stiles." The detached leaves 
were presented to the Cabinet of this Society last year. 



1876.] LETTER EEOM JOHK LEE WATSON. 173 

If not a uniform rule, certainly the general custom seems 
to have been, as Dr. Watson sliows, to denominate the places 
of worship of Dissenters as " meeting-houses." On Price's 
editions of Bonner's map of Boston, 1743 and 1769, copies of 
each of which are in ni}*- own possession, we have the follow- 
ing marginal references to the body of the map : " The Old 
Meeting, Old North M., Old Soutli M., Anabaptist M., King's 
Chapel, Brattle St. M., Quakers' M., New North M., New 
South M., French M., New No. Brick M., Christ Church, 
Irish Meeting-house, Hollis Street Meeting, Trinity Church, 
Lynds Street Meeting." (Many of these places of worship on 
Bonner's original map, 1722, were designated as " churches " ; 
but that name was afterwards carefully erased, except where 
it was applied to Episcopal churches.) 

Religious bodies known as "• churches," a name dear to our 
fathers, were connected with every Dissenting, or what we 
now call Orthodox, religious society ; comprehending a select 
body of the "saints," the visible Church. To this body the 
minister sustained peculiarly close relations. The whole 
society, in fact, existed for the Church, and was guided and 
governed by the Church which gave its name, so to speak, 
to the whole worshipping assembly. To speak, therefore, of 
Dr. Lathrop's Church was to speak of his worshipping as- 
sembly, not his meeting-house, or place of worshi^D. The 
" Old North Church," as a religious body, worshipped in the 
" Old North Meeting-house." The location of these Boston 
" churches " may be seen in Fleet's Register, and other sta- 
tistical books of the time. 

Misapprehensions and errors arise by not paying sufficient 
attention to the meaning of words and terms as they are found 
recorded in old books. When the records of the "• Old North 
Church " are spoken of, or when it is said that the " Old 
North Church " had owned a piece of land or other property, 
it should be known that the religious association, either the 
church or the society, is intended, and not the meeting-house, 
which could not properly be said to keep records or to hold 
property. Dr. Watson's letter to me here follows: — 

Orange, New Jersey, October 21st, a.d. 1876. 
My dear Sir, — Since the publication of my letter to the editors 
of the " Boston Daily Advertiser," I have received a great many letters 
from persons interested in the matter, all of which, with scarcely an 
exception, express the belief of the writers that " John Pulling was the 
man who showed the lights for Paul Revere on the night of the 18th 
of April, 1775"; and none of tliem intimate any doubts of Christ 
Church being the place where they were shown. 



174 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

I have learned, however, from a friend that one or two gentlemen, 
especially conversant Avith the history of those times, " have the im- 
pression that it was " from the ' Old North Meeting-house,' not from 
' Christ Church,' that the signals were put out." Having great defer- 
ence for the opinions of those gentlemen, and being desirous of remov- 
ing their doubts, I trust to your kindness to excuse the liberty I take 
in addressing you, as one interested in the subject, and asking you to 
do me the favor of bringing to the notice of tliose gentlemen, as you 
may have opportunity, the following reasons for my belief that the 
" steeple of Christ Church " was the place where the lights were shown 
by John Pulling. 

As far as I am informed, the only objections to this statement, of 
any importance, are, first, that Richard Devens, a well-known patriot 
of that day, in a letter without date, but written probably in 1775 or 
G, speaks of " the lights being shown from N. C'h.," — by which it is 
supposed he meant '' North Church " ; and, second, that Paul Kevere, 
in his Narrative, written in the year 1798, twentj'-tliree years after the 
event, makes use of the same term, the "North Church"; and it is 
claimed that, in both these instances, the words " North Church " mean 
" North Meeting-house." 

In reply to these objections, I beg leave to state the well-known 
fact that the Puritan forefathers of Massachusetts, and the ministers 
and writers of their generation generally, were very scrupulous about 
applying the word " Church " to their " places of vvorshi|)," and used 
it, principally, to designate the " communion of the society to wliich 
they belonged," as distinguished from the "non-communicating parts 
of the congregation " ; both together forming " the Church and Congre- 
gation worshipping in the North or South Meeting-house." And so 
tenacious were they of this phraseology, that, if a few solitary instances 
are found to the contrary, they ought to be considered as the exceptions, 
which prove the general rule. Most jaersoiis are so well acquainted 
with this familiar fact, that I cannot but think it unnecessary to say 
any thing more about it, except to notice some instances which occur 
in the few books within my i-each. In "The Siege of Boston" and 
" The Life of Joseph Warren," by Mr. Frothingham, it will be found, 
in almost every instance, that where the buildings are spoken of, and 
the words of the original writers are preserved, it is " Meeting-house " 
which is used ; though often changed, or explained by the historian, 
to mean " Church." I may also refer to Dr. Belknap's writings, and 
pjirticnlarly to the account of his visit to the camp in Cambridge, 
Oct. 22, 177(), where he speaks of "preaching in the Meeting-house"; 
and to the Diary of Dr. Sewall, the minister of the " Old South Meet- 
ing-house." as he always called it ; and to Judge Sewall's Journal ; 
and to Snow's History of Boston ; and to Greenwood's " History of 
King's Chapel " ; and to various articles in the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Collections ; the " Journal of Deacon Newell;" "The Diary of 
Ezekiel Price ; " and indeed, generally, to the journals and newspa- 
pers of those days. In a woixl, if one iiad courage and patience enough 
to examine the venerable and dusty piles of religious pamphlets, which 



1876.] LETTER FROM JOHN LEE WATSON. 175 

have accumulated in the closets and upper rooms of many of our large 
libraries, and to select from them the " dedication sermons," and other 
writings of the " pious and pains-full " preachers of those times, he 
would find, probably, more than a thousand instances of the use of the 
word " Meeting-house " to designate the places of worship of their own 
or kindred denominations, and scarcely one of the word " Church " 
being applied to any other than those of the Episcopal, or Church of 
England congregations. And, if he wanted additional proof of this, 
he might find it, perhaps, in that humble elevation in Roxbury, 
which they called " Meeting-house Hill," because they had built a 
place of worship there ; which name, I believe, still remains, a perpet- 
ual memorial of the peculiar phi'aseology of our forefathers, in their 
religious nomenclature. From these and other considerations, and 
from the testimony of elderly persons to the same effect, I think I am 
justified in believing that the writers of those times, and people in 
general, when they spoke of the congregational places of worship, 
called them " Meeting-houses " ; and that if Devens and Revere had 
meant the " North Meeting-house " as the place where the lights were 
shown, they would have so written it. 

In the next place, I wish to call attention to the fact, that the 
custom of calling " Christ Church " the " North Church " began in pre- 
Revolutionary times, and prevailed veiy generally in the times of 
Devens and Revere. This custom arose from Christ Church being 
the most northerly church in Boston, and having a very lofty steeple, — 
at that time 191 feet in height, and after the gale in 1804 reduced to its 
present height, 175 feet, — which formed the most conspicuous land- 
mark for vessels entering the harbor, and thence being well known, 
especially among the merchants and seafaring men, and generally 
among the inhabitants of the North End, as the "North Church." I 
have an impression, also, that it was so designated in the printed direc- 
tions to pilots and masters of vessels entering the harbor. The Rev. 
Dr. Greenwood, in his '' History of King's Chapel," — when giving 
an account of the " increase of Episcopacy in Massachusetts, in the 
year 1723," says : "And thus Dr. Cutler " — who had been a Congrega- 
tionalist, and President of Yale College — "became the first Rector of 
the Noi'th, or Christ Church." I have a letter from a lady whose 
mother was a member of Christ Church in those times, who says " that, 
when young, she seldom heard it called by any other name than the 
North Church ; and that she was twelve years old before she ever heard 
a Meeting-house called a Church, and then it was by a person from 
the South, and not a Nevv-Englander." I have also lately been in- 
formed that the descendants of John Pulling's second wife say of her, 
" that she always called Christ Church the North Church," and when- 
ever she told her story of the lanterns, whicli she was fond of repeat- 
ing, said " that it was from the steeple of that church that they were 
shown." And this custom continued to a very late period, and, pos- 
sibly, even now continues. And, in this connection, I may be permitted 
to add the testimony of my own experience, — now, of three-quarters of 
a century, — for, though brought up in Trinity Church, I had friends 



176 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 

and acquaintances in Christ Church, with whom I associated, — and in 
my boyhood T scarcely knew that tliat church had any other name than 
the North Church. In hiter years, in my intimacy with a veiy dear 
friend, who was then the Rector of that church, the Rev. Dr. Croswell, 
when conversing together about the events of its former days, we were 
very much in the habit of calling it the Old North Church ; and I liave 
now before me letters from the same friend, after he left Boston, in 
wiiich he speaks of it, in affectionate terms, as " the dear Old North "; 
and in the " Memoirs " of his life, written by his father, there are 
letters and pieces of jioetry, dated from the " Cloisters of the Old 
North Church." I conclude, from these and other circumstances that 
might be mentioned, that when Richai'd Devens wrote " N. C'h.," he 
meant " North Church " or " Christ Church," as the place where the 
signals were shown. 

And all this applies to Paul Revere's account, with still greater 
force. For, as is well known, the North Meeting-house was destroyed 
by the British in the year 1776; and afterward, "as the Old North 
Society had lost their Meeting-house, and the New Brick Society had 
lost their minister, the two congregations united, and worshipped to- 
gether," in the building called the New Brick Meeting-house. But 
Revere wrote his Narrative in the year 1798 ; and it is scarcely proba- 
ble that, in that account, he would have referred his readers to a build- 
ing which, twenty-three years before, had been " entirely demolished and 
consumed for fuel " ; at least, without some explanation. And therefore 
I conclude, also, that when Paul Revere wrote " North Church," he 
meant " Christ Church," and called it by the name which was most 
familiar to himself and his readers. 

Although it may be thought that enough has been said to resolve all 
doubts, yet I may be allowed to observe that all the probabilities in the 
case seem to be decisive in favor of Christ Church as the jilace. It 
appears from the records of that church, as quoted by the Rev. Dr. 
Eaton, in his historical account, in 1823, that " the Rector, the Rev. 
Mather Byles, Jr., continued his services till April, 1775, and then 
went to Portsmouth, N.H."; and, also, that "from this time the 
church was closed till August, 1778." This, of course, would render 
it easy for Pulling — a vestryman, having authority — to have entire 
control of the building, and go in and out, and do as he pleased, with- 
out interruption. Besides that, the steeple of Christ Church was the 
very best place for hanging the lanterns, so that the lights could be 
seen by Conant on the beach in Charlestown, and also be concealed 
from the British, who were, mainly, in an opposite direction. Now, 
to compare these circumstances with those of the Meeting-house. As 
far as can be ascertained from any and every source, it was a low 
wooden building, with a small open belfry, in North Square, immedi- 
ately opposite the soldiers' barracks, where the troops were then mus- 
tered, with sentinels at every corner and outlet. I cannot think there 
is the least probability that Pulling would choose such a place, where 
he would have found it difficult to enter without being discovered ; or, 
if he succeeded in entering, and showing the lights, where they would 



1876.] LETTER FROM JOHN LEE WATSON. 177 

have been immediately seen by the troops, and where they could not 
possibly be seen by Conant on the beach in Charlestown. It is true 
that all the streets of the North End were full of danger that night, 
but it is plain that the North Square was the most dangerous of all ; 
and it seems to me that the North Meeting-house, in the North Square, 
was the very last place that Paul Revere and John Pulling — who were 
not deficient in prudence and discretion — would have been likely to 
choose for their operations on that eventful night. 

There is much more of this kind of evidence which might be brought 
forward ; but I will only add, at present, that some weight should be 
given to the fact that the two traditions, though disagreeing as to the 
man, yet concur in representing Christ Church as the place ; and that 
it was the sexton of Christ Church who was suspected and arrested, 
" because the lights were shown from the steeple of that building." 

And now, sir, I cannot but think that these considerations will be 
sufficient to remove the doubts which may have arisen in the minds of 
others ; and — in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, or in 
favor of any other place — to incline them to believe that the " steeple 
of Christ Ciuirch " was the ])lace where John Pulling " showed the 
lights," at the request of his friend Paul Revere. 

But, whatever may be the result, I feel well assured that these views 
will receive impartial consideration ; and am, sir, 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

John Lee Watson. 
Charles Deane, Esq., LL.D., &c., &c. 



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